OSHKOSH, Wis. — A 4-month-old girl died when her inebriated mother fell asleep on top of her while breast-feeding, prosecutors said. Lorinda Hawkins told police she fell asleep about 15 minutes after she started breast-feeding the baby Feb. 23 because of her intoxication, a criminal complaint said. When she woke up about an hour later, the baby was pale and wasn't breathing, the complaint said.

I was a breastfeeding peer counselor for over 5 years. The thing we used to tell moms who asked about alcohol and nursing, was that if they were too drunk to hold the baby, they were too drunk to nurse the baby. We also followed that with comments about standing, not passing out, etc etc.

In other words, sobriety. If you are sober, you can nurse. If you're drunk, don't nurse.

The weird thing though, from what I understand, is that once the mother is sober, any alcohol in the milk is also gone. Something to do with how the body flushes alcohol from the system.

*shrugs* I just didn't drink and nurse. But then I had twins, and nursing them sober was its own special challenge!

It was not all that long ago we were telling breast feeding moms to have a glass of beer when they were nursing.

My husband and I remember one of our doctors, either the pediatrician or the ob/gyn, telling me to have a glass of wine before the late afternoon nursing - the "witching hour." It was supposed to help the milk let down and make me (and the baby?) calmer. I had four kids between 1983 and 1994, not that long ago.

Bad headline--makes it look like breastfeeding is the cause of death, and not the mother's stupid, irresponsible actions! >:-( I hope they throw the book at her, especially since she wasn't supposed to be drinking in the first place!! Why oh WHY didn't Child Services remove those children from the home before it was too late?! Ack.

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